Posted on 12/16/2020 11:12:23 AM PST by Gamecock
The federal government can’t take our money and give it to Joel Osteen or Robert Jeffress or Paula White—even in the wake of a pandemic,” I wrote back in May. But that’s exactly what Trump’s Small Business Administration has done by giving Paycheck Protection Program funds to churches. Paula White’s church took in between $150,000 and $350,000, Jeffress’s church grabbed between $2 million and $5 million and, now we know that Osteen’s megachurch pocketed $4.4 million. Other megachurches snagged millions of taxpayer dollars. As time passes, the inevitable abuses are coming to light. One megachurch televangelist even bought a private jet two weeks after receiving $4 million in PPP funds.
None of this should ever have happened.
The CARES Act extended eligibility for loans from the Small Business Administration to nonprofits, something new. But the law did not give the SBA the power to extend this eligibility to churches, nor could it—the Constitution prohibits government funding of religion. In fact, the CARES Act only mentions religion once, to prevent universities from using taxpayer funds for “capital outlays associated with facilities related to athletics, sectarian instruction, or religious worship.” However, the SBA ignored that language along with the centuries-old bar on taxpayer-funded religious worship, and instead issued rules and guidance declaring that the forgivable loans distributed under the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program “can be used to pay the salaries of ministers and other staff engaged in the religious mission of institutions.” To do this, SBA had to suspend numerous rules that, correctly, prevented taxpayer funds from flowing to churches.
These discarded rules embody the separation of state and church, one of America’s founding principles. Taxation without representation sparked the American Revolution and the revolutionaries later set up a system that barred the government’s coercive taxing power from being wielded to force citizens to support a religion. One of this country’s first religious freedom laws warned that taxing citizens and giving the money to churches is “sinful and tyrannical.” The right to be free from that compulsion is religious liberty as we have always understood it.
SBA’s constitutional violation—if such violations are to be measured in economic terms—is massive.
American churches took in as much as $10 billion in taxpayer funds through PPP loans. More than 400 evangelical churches received loans of at least $1 million. The Catholic Church might have taken in as much as $3.5 billion.
Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church is probably the biggest church in the United States, with 50,000 or so members. One estimate puts its annual budget at $90 million, with more than $25 million going to the television ministry. Osteen’s net worth is hard to pin down, but it’s probably around $50 million or $60 million. This isn’t a church that’s hard up for cash. And with sensible Americans worshipping at home, its massive televangelism empire probably only grew. Osteen took nearly millions of dollars meant for small businesses.
Osteen’s church claimed that it used $4.4 million in taxpayer funds “to provide full salaries and benefits, including health insurance coverage to all of its employees and their families.” But we’ll likely never know. Many of the safeguards that apply to SBA loans and that applied to other nonchurch entities through the PPP, didn’t apply to churches. It’s not just special treatment under PPP that’s problematic, but other laws too. Combined, this was a recipe for fraud and abuse.
For instance, unlike every other 501(c)(3) and charity, churches file no annual financial disclosures with the IRS. They are financial black holes. As part of their public trust, all other 501(c)(3) nonprofits are required to file an annual report, the Form 990, with the IRS that details specific financial information, tracking every penny donated and spent. Because they entirely lack financial transparency and accountability, churches are already rife with fraud and abuse. Yet, according to the SBA’s guidance, churches qualify for CARES Act funds even if they’ve never registered as a church with the IRS. Receiving these taxpayer funds could be literally both the first and last time the government ever hears of such churches.
None of this is new. The Freedom From Religion Foundation made all these points in a formal comment to the SBA rule proposing the Paycheck Protection Program—the SBA knew of these dangerous loopholes and forged ahead anyway.
The potential for government audits was supposed to curb some abuse, but given how favorably the Trump administration treated churches—even hosting secretive White House calls for Trump’s closest faith leaders and church supporters to encourage them to apply for the forgivable loans—churches were unlikely to worry about enforcement or audits. In any event, later rule changes mean the government forgives loans of less than $2 million after a one-page form is filled out. Loans over $2 million face an audit. So maybe, just maybe, years from now we’ll know if We the People were defrauded.
We’ll know sooner if journalists start digging. Chris Mathews, a reporter from the Houston Business Journal, broke the Osteen story.
Lisa Guerrero of Inside Edition has been digging too, and she discovered a private jet likely financed with PPP money. Marcus Lamb runs Daystar Television, which may have as many as 2 billion viewers and is valued at a quarter of a billion dollars. Two weeks after it took $4 million in taxpayer PPP funds, it bought a private jet, a Gulfstream V, valued at between $9 million and $10 million.
She is no spring chicken.
hmmm...
You think religious institutions should be in line for federal handouts?
Someone will open a few Madrassas and you might change your mind...
Either he is a runt, or she is an Amazon.
“...Abuses by mega-churches give the demonRATs ammunition to go after ALL churches....”
Exactly!!
There are thousands of churches across our nation that obey the law and carry out their calling without issue.
This kind of BS will end up with draconian government punishment etc. on all of em.
“...I wouldn’t call these entertainment halls churches.
Yeah...no kiddin’.
One has to use the term “church” rather loosely for some of these joints. Many are nothing more than a social gathering clubhouse with a little so-called religion/preaching tossed in just enough to meet the “church” definition.
On the flip side of that, there are some good, solid, Bible-believing churches that adhere to the principles given in the Word and teach/preach as such. They’re not out to fleece or harm anyone...just the opposite.
Most of the time, they’re usually scorned and ridiculed by the mainstream, but they’re out there doing what they feel called to do and actually trying to help people in need.
It’s wrong to “lump em all into one basket”, but that’s what usually happens. “A little leaven leavens the whole lump”.
“ FWIW, I’d be totally ashamed to call myself “Christian” and be taking government money like that.”
My (small) church took about $40K. We used it to pay our janitor, the part time employees who run an after school care program, sexton, organist, etc. We were very worried about revenues given shutdowns and small attendance. Thankfully our revenues have been nearly on par with a normal year, so that money is segregated in case we need to pay the loan back.
I know it’s easy to cite egregious examples like Osteen, but I believe there re many small churches with good governance who have benefited from PPP while adhering to their Christian principles.
There is a difference between (legal) Churches with buildings, property, assets, ...
and The Church, body of believers.
We have fostered the legal Church with tax advantages, deductions for contributions, etc. They take out loans to pay for their stuff. And sometimes take pride in it, to the point of creating an idol. Now this model is threatened by the Govt. And the believers may suffer along with it.
If you need a building (a sheep shed), rent it.
It feels like we are headed toward the New Testament form of Church, like the underground Church in China and in other persecuted countries.
Will the (remaining, true) believers reach more souls from a persecuted situation than ‘Churches’ do today?
Wow, look at her eyebrows compared to the younger pic.
They’ve been propped up like Nancy Pegrossi’s.
It looks like she has a picture of herself on the lamp table behind her. This prosperity gospel stuff guarantees big egos—the Almighty wants you to be successful and you’re not a sinner, you’re a little god capable of anything.
“...I believe there re many small churches with good governance who have benefited from PPP while adhering to their Christian principles....”
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and decision-making, for sure.
IMHO, taking money from the government opens up a door that a church will someday wish they’d never went thru.
Our own church is small as well. We never took a penny in govt. money and never will...the doors would be bolted shut first. And it got tough...real tough there for quite awhile. We learned real quick what it means to trust God, and with the Lord’s providence and a lot of prayer, we made it through the worst of it...at least so far.
FWIW, with what’s possibly coming down the road, NONE of em may survive as far as the buildings go.
We’re praying hard that it never happens, but if so, the true church is the believers within it, and it will survive as it always has throughout the ages...in spite of government closing edicts.
“....It feels like we are headed toward the New Testament form of Church, like the underground Church in China and in other persecuted countries.....”
THIS.
“...Will the (remaining, true) believers reach more souls from a persecuted situation than ‘Churches’ do today?...”
YES
I definitely respect your way of thinking. God bless your church, I hope you come out stronger on the other side of this!
They disgust me. But the bigger they are the harder they fall.
Karma will catch up to Mr. and Mrs. Grifter.
No it isn’t. The church we attend chose not to apply for this money.
You’re being RIDICULOUS!!!!
If she’s attracted to Joel, it’s cuz she’s bat-dollar CRAZY!!!
Paula White is married to Jonathan Cain, the keyboardist from the band “Journey”.
I understand many businesses took the loans because the interest rate was very good for restructuring, however churches should not be in debt. Borrower is slave to lender. In addition churches taking loans is a terrible witness.
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